Published 7:10 am, Wednesday, July 16, 2014

The bid would've valued Time Warner at $85 per share, reports the NYTimes' Andrew Ross Sorkin and Michael De La Merced.

Despite the rejection, the stock is reacting. Shares of Time Warner, which closed at $71.01 on Tuesday, are up by 14% in pre-market trading.

The details of the deal are interesting.

"As part of Fox’s proposal to buy Time Warner, people briefed on the proposal said, Fox indicated that it would sell CNN to head off potential antitrust concerns since Fox News competes directly with CNN," reported New York Times' Andrew Ross Sorkin and Michael De La Merced. "Putting CNN on the auction block would likely stir up a bidding war for the news channel; both CBS and ABC, a unit of the Walt Disney Company, have long been seen as interested suitors."

Twenty-First Century Fox, formerly known as Newscorp, is the $78 billion media company run by Rupert Murdoch.

UPDATE (8:14 a.m. ET): Twenty-First Century Fox released this statement: "21st Century Fox can confirm that we made a formal proposal to Time Warner last month to combine the two companies. The Time Warner Board of Directors declined to pursue our proposal. We are not currently in any discussions with Time Warner."